Photo by SHAYAN Rostami on Unsplash
“Everything is raw material. Everything is relevant. Everything is usable. Everything feeds into my creativity. But without proper preparation, I cannot see it, retain it, and use it.” ~Twyla Tharp
Hi friends,
One common theme in my dreams is that of being unprepared for something important. I dream it’s Christmas day and I’ve not done a single thing to get ready for it. No gifts bought, no food prepared, no tree decorated. Or there’s the test I failed to study for, the college class I never attended, and now it’s final exam day and I can’t even find the classroom. Dreams reflect our deepest fears. Not feeling ready or up to the task is scary.
Sitting down to write can be anxiety-producing as well. We feel like a beginner every time. We scribble a few pages, but are unhappy with the result. The words feel dead on the page. This is because we arrived at the page unprepared. Like athletes and musicians, writers also need to warm up.
Today, I’m going to offer you three of my best, tried-and-true pre-writing exercises that will help you enter into a creative headspace and prepare you for the deeper, more surprising work we all aim for.